Tangled Web
by mg56
Summary: Blossom and Eddy should really pay more attention to there kids. A sequal to 'Can you Keep a Secret' and 'Brick through a Window,' but reading those two not vital, as a summry is inside. COMPLETE!
1. Summary

**1. Summary**

Okay, I'm back on site, two days earlier. Miss me?

Okay, I can take the hint.

Anyway, here is my next story. It's another squeal, although reading the pervious stories ('Can you keep a Secret' and 'Brick through a Window') is not essential. I do advise that you at least read the summary below first, or you'll probably be lost by the end of the first paragraph.

Powerpuff characters. All these are from the normal series, I did not create them and do not own them. Puffs/Ruffs are 32 years old.

Blossom: Married (see below) with two children. Has recently returned to crime fighting, and is regaining lost confidence.

Bubbles: Is preparing to marry Boomer. Often works abroad now.

Buttercup: Is married to Butch, and has been for seven years. In the previous story she lost a baby, which understandably upset her a lot, but is making progress through it.

Butch: Married to Buttercup, (yes, I know I just said). Also now a superhero, but still manages to abuse his position to make money in less than legal ways. Devastated by the loss of the baby, but determined to sort it out.

Boomer: About to marry Bubbles, is now a superhero, and much more honest about it than Butch.

Brick: Died at seventeen, details of this in "Can you keep a Secret." Now works for Death(!) collecting the souls of those who have just died. Has a horse called Katharine. He is still in love with Blossom.

Any other characters from the standard series can be assumed to be in the same state as in the show, just suitably older.

Crossover characters I use these because I'm unoriginal. More may appear as needed, but only the two below are major characters.

Eddy: From Ed, Edd and Eddy, is married to Blossom(?) Not really accepted by Bubbles and Buttercup, but more so by Butch and Butch. Quite how he got here isn't clear. Has an inferiority complex over Brick, but doesn't worry about it, as Bricks not here to take advantage.

Sonic: Yes, the Hedgehog, (I know, I Know.) He is the leader of the Superheroes, making him the puffs/ruffs boss. Particularly keen to keep Blossom working very minute of the day.

My characters Characters I created. Feel free to use, if you can find one for them (which you won't, because no sane person would pair Eddy and Blossom…)

Edward: Blossom and Eddy's son, ten years old. Has no idea that his Mum is a superhero, although knows that his aunts are. Isn't at all keen on the idea of being a hero, he has other ambitions. Typically inattentive and sarcastic, but not that badly behaved.

MJ: Edwards's younger sister, five years old. She has the same knowledge of her family as Edward does, but desperately wants to be a superhero. Generally smiley and chirpy, but currently being bullied at school. Seems to be able to see Brick, which she shouldn't be able to do.

Roland: Another of Death's workers, merely there as someone for Brick to talk to.

Other concepts

SSR: the government funded superhero organisation. Sonic is in charge, Blossom is second in command, but Sonic treats her more as a glorified secretary. The other Puffs/Ruffs are also members, as well as anyone else I pull out of thin air.

Blossom's secret: Related to Brick's death, it doesn't play a part in this story, but it's worth noting, that Sonic (there when it happened), Eddy (told by Blossom), Boomer (told by Blossom) and Butch (told by Eddy!) know it. Note that Bubbles and Buttercup don't.

Apology: Sorry to Terry Prachett, who I've stolen some ideas off (but I'm in good company in that field!)

Right, if you think this is stupid, press the back button and I wish you all the best. If you think this could be good, but don't understand what I've just written, or want to know more, you can go skim read 'Can you keep a secret' and 'Brick through a window.' If you want to read the story, let's begin.


	2. Happy Days

Okay, here we go with the first chapter. More will happen latter, I promise.

**

* * *

1. Happy Days**

The apartment room was not huge, and only had three others joined to it; two bedrooms and a bathroom. It had a small kitchen area, a table, a lounge area with the TV etc, and a cot. It was also black. Everything was black. This was not due to the preference of the tenants though, but because almost everything in Death's domain was black.

Roland was sat on the black leather sofa watching the tele, and eating pasta. It hardly mattered if he spilt anything, because the white overalls he wore, having died in them, were stained with blood anyway. So he shovelled the food in quite liberally.

The door swung open behind him, and his room mate wondered in. He slotted his scythe on the rack next to Roland's, and wondered over to the cot.

"She's out like a light Brick," Roland said without turning round. Brick looked in on the child anyway. He also wore the blood stained red clothes he'd died in.

"I know but she's so cute," he cooed, bending down and gently tucking her in again.

"Have you though of a name yet," ask Roland. Brick swung round triumphantly.

"Ah, yes" he jogged over to the fridge, "I used the television to find an alternate – beer? (Roland nodded) – universe in which Buttercup had named her daughter, then I stole that." He jumped over the sofa and landed next to Roland, handing him the beer.

"And?"

"Brandy" Brick finished triumphantly.

"No thanks, I've already got a beer." Brick scowled at him, Roland shrugged. He sipped his beer. "So?" he asked?

"So what?"

"So how was the wedding? Wasn't it just the best day of Bubbles and Boomers lives?"

"Hold it there," said Brick quickly, "we're just a pink shirt away from a gay couple, and I don't think Butch would want his daughter raised like that, even if she is dead."

"Hey, it's not my fault that rumour started, I do my best to pull the chicks, but they throw themselves at you and you say no, that's the problem!"

"When was the last time you pulled?" Brick enquired gently.

"A month ago, but that kid takes up a lot of time. But don't change the subject, I'm taking an interest in your family for once, be grateful."

Brick gulped the drink. "Okay, so where do I start. It all went off without a hitch. Butch settled Boomer's last minute nerves, and once he was out there, he looked like the cat that had got the cream."

"Was Bubbles good then?"

"She looked very glamorous yes," the ruff pause, "but even in a badly chosen dress you can't hide her stunning looks, and it was a well chosen dress."

"That's a yes then."

"Oh boy yes, I'm surprised Boomer kept his hands off her through the vows. Don't get me wrong, it was taste full, but she still oozed, if you know what I mean. Better then poor Blossom and Buttercup."

"What was wrong for them?"

"Can you think of a colour they'd both look good in?"

Roland thought about this for a while. "No," he said.

"Service was better then the reception though."

"Oh. Why?"

"Well it was good for the living, but Butch got so drunk he started offering me drinks, and then laughing about it."

"I didn't think he could see you."

"He can't," Brick said flatly, "but he kept trying until Buttercup dragged him off home, or I think that's where she dragged him, she was pretty gone too by that stage."

"Family of drinkers?"

"They've taken it up a level since they lost the baby admittedly, but not really. I think Eddy had enough for both of them. And I swear that MJ kid can see me!"

"Your being paranoid," Roland reassured, "only one in a billion people can see us, so it's very unlikely that she can."

"So the blue two set off on there honey moon, and that was about it. I have some photos if you'd like to see them."

"Sure," Roland said. He had a good look. "See you managed to work your way into a few."

"Camera never lies, so I'll show these to Boomer when he gets here."

"Gee, I see what you mean about Bubbles. See even makes her sisters look tame!"

"Oh I'm not so sure. Buttercups got a lot going for her in a steamy sort of way."

"And Blossom," Roland said, not bothering to avoid the inevitable.

"Blossom…" Brick said slightly distantly, "she doesn't give off as strong a first impression, but when you with her, and holding her, you can tell that she's, well, truly perfect in every way, and you never want to let go. You know what I'm saying?"

"I sure do," said Roland quietly. Then he sniggered: "You're so in love with Blossom your going to drive everyone up here away be acting gay!"

Brick hit him, sending Roland toppling over the back of the sofa.

"Your luck I lost my powers on the way here he snapped. Too loudly. Brandy started crying.

* * *

Boomer was very grateful for Buttercup and Blossom being her sisters-in-law. It was they that had helped chose the wedding dress. Seeing Bubbles in all her glory had helped settle his nerves even more than Butch's 'if you don't marry her you'll upset Buttercup and I'll rip your head off' speech.

He now had his arms wrapped round her firmly as they spiralled in the sky above the city, locked together in full embrace. Eventually, she broke off, much to Boomer's disappointment.

"Come on," she said softly, "Lets go to our hotel."

Great, though Boomer, that's hours away. But rather then shooting off, Bubbles wrapped herself around him again, and as they kissed once more, she put a finger on her forehead, and the two of them disappeared in a flash off Blue energy.

When Boomer looked round again they were above the Parisian skyline. He gulped.

"Wow, what was that?" he asked.

"Something I had to learn for work. The guy who taught me called it instantraslocation, but it's basically just teleporting."

"You gota show me how to do that some time." Bubbles smiled slightly wickedly.

"There's lots of things I gota show you, (Boomer's legs turned to jelly,) but first, lets find the hotel."

"Wait a moment!" he said hurriedly as she began to descend, "I better do your dress up at the back again!"

* * *

Okay, you know the drill. Please review, ask question, moan, try to sell me things etc. Thank you. 


	3. Edward steps in

**2. Edward Steps In**

Five am. Blossom stumbled down the stairs yawning. She knew she should be used to this by now – morning patrols were now always on her schedule – but yesterday had been a long day.

Food would help though. She pushed open the kitchen door, only to find that the lights were on.

"Eddy?" she said surprised.

"What," he said, "can't I make my own wife breakfast?"

"Yes but… but I thought you would be," Blossom tried to think of a tactful way to say it, but she couldn't find one. "I thought you'd be completely wasted."

"I'm fine," he responded indignantly. Blossom grabbed a chair and scraped it on the floor slightly, sending Eddy reaching for his head. "Anyway, I can't let you go to work without a good breakfast," he finished as he popped some aspirin.

"So what's it today," she asked as she sat down. Eddy looked down at the plate he was preparing.

"Err, mainly waffles and syrup. But I've thrown some eggs in. Lots of sugar, it will wake you up." He placed the plate in front of Blossom, who eyed it slightly suspiciously. It was mostly fat, so much so that the eggs were floating on the surface. But it was the thought that counted, she supposed, so she tucked in. It wasn't too bad either. Just about.

* * *

Butch rolled over. Something was ringing in his ear. His head absolutely killed. He sat up. Buttercup wasn't in the bed with him, but it was only seven thirty. And the blasted ringing was still going.

It took the hangover ruff a moment to orientate himself, when he realised it was the phone.

"Hello?" he croaked.

"GOOD MORNING!" a familiar voice bellowed down the phone, "THAT IS TO SAY THAT THE EARLIER PART OF THE DAY IS A PREFARBLE SITUTATION, WHICH MEANS TO BE…"

Butch pulled his aching head away until the shouting had stopped.

"You really are evil Mojo," he said quietly, "at least I didn't have a parole office as my guest to the wedding."

"Yes," said the monkey impatiently, "but I got rid of him, that is to say that I…"

Butch got up, realised he was naked, got a towel, a coffee and made some semblance of a recovery by the time Mojo had finished rambling.

"Okay, so you're out of prison, what can I do for you? And stick to the point please."

"I need you to help me back into the super villain loop! What's good and what's bad to be involved with now?"

"Now, 'dad'," Butch said calmly, "I'm a superhero now, I'm not exactly the best person to ask that." He paused so the monkey could snigger. "However," he continued, double checking Buttercup wasn't in the room, "the kidnapping of that Mary Jane Parker girl seems to have us a bit foxed, you could try and get in with that."

"Too late, they sent the ransom note this morning."

"Well, it's the clever crimes like that which are the most successful right now, so you could kidnap some Hollywood superstar, and I could see that the case is miss handled, for a small fee." Butch swung the phone round in his hand like a gun, before catching it.

"Okay, I'll try that." The line went dead, so Butch got up to see if he could find Buttercup.

It didn't take long. "Being sick?" he asked as he pushed open the bathroom door. Buttercup was sitting down, staring straight ahead.

"I wish," she muttered. Butch paused, and glanced over at the bin. A used pregnancy test sat on the top. He didn't even need to read the result though. He walk over too her, and took her hand, squeezing it gently.

"It's okay," he said, "we'll get there one day." She stood up and looked at him, tears in her emerald green eyes.

"I know" she whispered, and Butch held her tight for some precious quite moments.

* * *

"MJ GET UP!" Eddy shouted up the stairs. He strode back into the kitchen. It was now 8:15. "What's with that girl at the moment?"

His eldest, Edward, looked up from the last few pieces of his breakfast. "I don't like to gossip," he said mischievously, "but she has claimed to be seeing people with large scythes rather a lot." Eddy blinked.

"I better go talk to her," he said, and left.

Now alone, Edward licked the final morsels of food off his plate, and then sat back for a moment. Calmly, he scooped the plate up, and started to 'use' it as a steering wheel. It wasn't long before he was making appropriate engine noises too (well he is ten.) Unfortunately, he dropped the plate while making an imaginary gear change.

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"Nothing," Edward said hurriedly, as he tried to clear up the mess. He gave up and left the kitchen to grab his bag, maybe Dad wouldn't find it till he'd gone. MJ stumbled down stairs with Eddy behind her, just as the school bus pulled up.

"Oh Fu…fiddlesticks," Eddy corrected, "no time for breakfast MJ, you should have got up earlier." He thrust her a lunchbox. "Have a good day dear."

MJ merely nodded and left without a word, so as Eddy handed Edward a lunchbox, he whispered to him, "keep an eye on your sister son."

Hence followed a very small tantrum.

* * *

8:50. MJ had put it off as long as she could. There was no point hanging around the front of the school for ever, at some point she'd have to go round the corner. And they'd be waiting for her. They always were.

She walked round, as she did every morning, trying not to show fear, like either of her aunts, or their superhero companions would. She wasn't very good at it though. But… maybe, she couldn't see the too bullies, Nick and George, for once. A glimmer of hope leapt through her. Maybe they weren't in…

It was extinguished with a bust of pain. George grabbed her by the hair, and lifted her up by it. MJ screamed in pain, but was quickly silenced by a blow to the gut. Nick laughed, as did his fellow eight year old, (two years older then MJ), before hitting her again. The process repeated, until Nick got bored, and grabbed her lunch box. George continued to hold her up by her hair, which since she was half puff, was not going to break.

If MJ had known that she was half puff, she probably would have been able to escape. Instead she hang their in agony, tears streaming down her face, praying for a miracle, as in front of her a daily ritual took place. Nick striped the box of anything taste, and was in the process of destroying the remaining food (George egging him on all the while) when he came across something strange.

"I thought you didn't like yogurts," he sneered. MJ winced. She didn't. But she knew who did.

Two hands fell gently, one on Nick's shoulder, and one on George's. The two boys looked round in fear. MJ nearly cried with joy (and pain).

"Excuse me," said Edward gently, but menacingly, "but you two miserable, pathetic jerks appear to be holding two things of mine. My lunchbox and my SISTER!"

* * *

Sorry if that didn't flow very well. Please review. Thanks. 


	4. Lifes not Fair

As some of you may have guessed, I'm a bit of a cynic. This chapter will probably confirm it. Oh, and I don't know Eddy's (and therefore Blossom's) surname, so I've made it up.

**

* * *

4. Life's Not Fair **

Blossom downed the coffee, taking advantage of her superpowers to avoid getting badly burnt. She needed all the energy she could get, as the hard part of the day was about to begin. The morning superheroing was over, it was now paperwork and…

"Check book," was the single word that came buzzing though the intercom, as she just reached her desk. Quietly cursing snooty hedgehogs, she pushed open the door.

To her relief, Sonic wasn't alone. He had Spiderman with him, and as a result managed a smile for Blossom, even if it was the sort of smile a boss uses for a secretary.

"Thank you," he said, taking the company check book from Blossom. He rested it on his knees (as his feet were on his desk,) and scribbled a check. "Right, take this to the bank, that should give you the money to pay the ransom.

"Thank you Sonic, thank you!" said Spiderman hurriedly, before leaving.

"Don't forget to change out of the costume!" Sonic bellowed after him, before lowering his tones; "well, that's that sorted."

"How much was the ransom?" asked Blossom. Sonic shot her a dirty look.

"Fifty thousand pounds…"

"Dollars"

"… dollars, why, what's it to you?"

"Nothing, I just need to put it on the accounts."

"Oh no you don't," Sonic wagged his finger at her, "I'm not having the government and press on our back about us looking after our own with taxpayer's money, don't put it on the accounts. You got that?"

"I'm not criticising your decision, it's great that you chose to help Parker and his Wife, but I have to put it in the accounts Sonic. We have to tell them everything we spend money on."

Sonic lent back further on his chair, and laughed slightly to himself. "Blossom," he said calmly and cuttingly, "lets not get on to the 'I should tell the truth' argument, because you know it will end with me reminding you that you don't want me to tell THE truth, okay?" Blossom tried not look as furious as she was feeling.

"Yes Sonic," she said steadily.

"Good. Go."

Blossom had barely got back to her desk, when the phone rang.

"Hello."

"Mrs Panner?"

"Yes, speaking."

"Hello. This is Mrs Holfeild, the Headmistress of Townsville Elementary School. We need you to come into school now, as we have had a problem with your son."

* * *

By the time Blossom had arrived, a "discussion" had already been going on for a while between Eddy and Mrs Holfeild, so much so, that as she approached the room, Blossom felt rather irrelevant. So she waited outside, and listened in. 

"The point is, Mr Panner," Mrs Holfeild said hotly "is that your son attacked and beat up two children that were two years younger then him!"

"They were two years older than MJ," Eddy was on his feet and leaning over the desk, "I think that's the point."

"I have told you before, we are not discussing MJ right now."

"Why? Because it exposes the school as incompetent by not spotting this persistent bulling? Is it embarrassing for you?"

"It is not the schools fault that your daughter doesn't bruise, or that she didn't feel that she could tell her parents about it!"

"Are you calling me a bad parent?"

"No, but your household is hardly an ideal place for children to be brought up, consider their mother…"

Blossom seethed with anger outside, but Eddy, unaware of her presence, spoke for her.

"Oh, so it's like that is it? That explains a lot."

"I am not anti mutant Mr Panner," the head teacher's voice showed stress for the first time.

"I didn't say that you were. But can you explain why the parents of those monsters who bullied my daughter are not being called to heel? Is it because they are on the PTA? Or is it because they haven't spent there life helping people but helping themselves to become stupidly rich!"

"They are currently at the hospital with there children Mr Panner."

Blossom winced throughout the awkward silence. Eddy had had the floor whipped from beneath his feet.

"Ahh," was all he managed.

"I will be suspending Edward from school till after a governors meeting to discuss his conduct. We will also be discussing whether it is wise to have your 'type' in our schools, especially if they are not aware of there potential."

Eddy said a few more words, before striding out, bumping straight into Blossom.

"Blossom! Where you listening to that?" he said surprised. She nodded, trying to contain her angry at the situation.

"Yes," she said. Eddy sighed.

"Sorry," he said, before muttering, "fucking school," under his breath. He looked at Blossom again. "Let's just get Edward home, and go from there." Blossom nodded.

"But we do need to talk to him," she said, "however much this is the schools problem, he should have showed a bit of restraint."

* * *

"I don't get what you're saying, you wanted me to let them hurt her?" Edward was sat at the far end of the table, staring at his mother and father. 

"No of course not," said Blossom tetchily, "but you didn't need to beat them so badly."

"I barely touched them. Anyway, they'd hurt MJ like that. They deserved it!"

"Yes, but justice doesn't work like that," Blossom tried to explain. "It looks from some angles that you where as bad as they were."

"Which angle, yours?" Edward said defiantly. Eddy sniggered slightly, he was now being most unhelpful.

"You can't take the law into your own hands like that!" Blossom said. "You've got to responsible for your own actions, and you can't hide behind circumstances. Nearly killing those two kids was not the only way to help MJ."

"It was the most effective way!"

"At the expense of your whole future! If this goes on your permanent record…"

"You don't understand!" shouted Edward suddenly. "You've spent your whole life fiddling with paper behind a desk! Bubbles and Buttercup would understand! And I don't even like them… till now!"

He stormed out, leaving Blossom very shaken. She turned to Eddy.

"Fat use you where," she said.

"I'm not going to help you be a hypocrite. He was right."

"I'm trying to bring them up to be better then me, do you want him to grow up to be a thug?"

"Hey, this is your fault!" Eddy snapped back. "If he knew who he was, he'd not have hit them that hard. He thinks he 'barely touched them' because he thinks he's NORMAL!"

"Oh shut up! I don't need you undermining my authority in front of the kids."

"Most defiantly, cause you do that perfectly well you self! Did you here what he said? He respects your sisters more then you, and he loathes them!"

"Like you I suppose?"

"This is not about you or me Blossom!"

"Oh really, you just said it was my fault!"

"Well it is…"

* * *

As they agued, neither relised that they'd neglected to talk to one person. Upstairs, MJ sat quietly in her room. She could here the sounds of Edward taking out some aggression on a racing game (one of his many), and her parents now almost screaming at each other down stairs. She could only think of one reason for this chaos. Her. 

If she'd been able to sort out her own problems, none of this would ever have happened, she thought. More then ever before, she wished she had superpowers.

* * *

Okay, please review. Thanks. 


	5. Edward's wish

Just a short one here, because I need to think about the next bit. Oh yes, and MJ will be okay at the end. That's a promise.

**

* * *

5. Edward's wish**

Super villains are always watching, always planning, and always waiting for their next opportunity.

Or so says the propaganda leaflet. In reality, super villains spend most of their time nursing headaches, and wishing they'd followed their dream of being a film critic.

But there are always exceptions to anything. On such exception was watching MJ very closely. And what he saw encouraged him.

"Oh yes," him simmered gleefully, "you stupid puffs are mine at last."

MJ made her way into school alone. The bus arrived on time, and MJ set off round the corner. She may have been depressed and guilt ridden, but at least she didn't have to fear, like she normally did.

Of course, she was wrong. There was a large crowd of kids waiting, and before she knew it, it had enveloped her. She glanced around, and realised she was in big trouble. All of them were from George and Nick's class, and they were not looking happy.

"Your going to pay for what happened yesterday," one of them said menacingly, and as the rest began to chant, a couple of them closed in on her.

* * *

"What's wrong Blossom," asked Buttercup. Blossom looked up from her desk.

"Eh?" she said.

"You look even more depressed then normal. Trouble at home?"

"Why do you always ask that when I look depressed?"

Buttercup sat down next to her. "Come on Blossom, tell me what the problem is." Blossom sighed, but she did talk.

"MJ was getting bullied at school and Edward beat them up and he's got suspended for it and me and Eddy had a huge row about it."

"Huh," said Buttercup, "trust him to come down against his own son." Blossom said nothing. Buttercup suddenly looked at her, gaped for a moment, and then steadied herself. "It's like you to as well though."

"What?"

"To come down on the side of the authority figure," Buttercup said calmly. "You know, defending the government, the police, the school…"

"LESS CHAT MORE WORK!" Sonic shouted from the office behind.

"… him," Buttercup gestured behind her. Blossom looked stung.

"I don't want my son to grow up to be a mindless thug, who can only settle his problems through violence."

"Isn't that his decision?" suggested Buttercup. "Stop worrying so much about your kid's future, by trying to restrict them so much, you're stifling them and stopping them from developing vital life skills."

"Oh, so one moment I'm not paying enough attention to my kids, the next I'm over mothering them?"

"Just think about it, okay." Buttercup left. Blossom slumped at the desk, but she had a feeling Buttercup was right. She often was about those sorts of things. She'll make a great parent, Blossom thought. One day.

Edward wondered back up to the desk, he was still looking around awkwardly. Blossom sighed. She could hardly have left him home alone, but she wished Eddy could have taken him. Health and safety rules at Eddy's work had prevented that.

"Can you address these envelopes for me dear?" she asked him. Edward merely nodded, and sat down opposite her to start, without saying a word. He'd been like that all day. Blossom finally gave up.

"I'm sorry about yesterday Edward," she said, "I was just shocked and upset. Can you forgive me?"

Edward looked up. "Okay mum," he said, and gave her a brief smile. Blossom relaxed slightly. She hoped Eddy would be that easy to sort.

Her son was looking round the room again, at all the superheroes. "I'm glad I'm not one of them," he said.

"Really, why?"

"Because I want to be a racing driver mum," Edward said, sounding happy again, "and they don't allow mutants to compete in most sports."

Blossom froze. Oh shit, she thought.

* * *

Okay, please review. Thanks. 


	6. MJ's wish

**6. MJ's Wish**

MJ had been crying. She was leant against the sink in the girls toilets, alone and sobbing. Her arms were busied, her stomach sore, and blood dribbled down from her hair, where it had been pulled and yanked at the roots. She tried to close her mouth, but her lips where swollen, so it hurt.

She stood up again and looked in the mirror. There was no way she could go to lessons looking like this. It had been made clear to MJ that if anyone found out what had happened, she'd get it again. She wouldn't tell, but looking like this, someone might guess. Sniffing, she began to run some water in a basin. Maybe if she washed the blood off, it wouldn't look so obvious.

Suddenly, she was aware that the light was changing in the room. The entire toilet appeared to have developed a red glow, and a strange mist circled about the room. Out from it, a creature materialised. It had red skin, claws for hands, and a black beard. MJ was initially terrified, but when it smiled, she found the courage to speak.

"Wh…who are you?" she stammered.

"Oh, my name isn't important MJ," the creature said eccentrically, waving his over long limbs about.

"How d…do you know my name?"

"I know everything about you MJ," it smiled, "and I know you need my help."

"I shouldn't need anyone's help," said MJ miserably, "I should be able to protect and help my self. When people help me they just suffer."

"Of course they do," said the red creature. "Everyone should be able to help themselves, and if they can't, they're a failure, and they deserve it. That is the principle that made this country so great."

"I don't want to be a failure," said MJ.

"No, you don't. But you're not. You've wanted something so badly, that I've come to give it to you."

"What?"

"If you want something badly enough, you will get it." He smiled, "So what do you want?"

MJ couldn't argue with logic. "I want superpowers," she said determinedly.

"Good choice," the creature said smugly. "You see MJ, the world works like this. The strong will always rule the weak. Nick and George were stronger than you, so they ruled you. But Edward was stronger then them. But the school is stronger than Edward, so you were left exposed. The only person safe from attack is the strongest person in the world."

"Like the President?" MJ asked.

"Yes, but political power is temporary. Mutant powers, super powers, are permanent. Now if you were one of the most powerful super beings ever, not even other super beings would be able to harm you, let alone those pathetic humans."

"Yes, yes," said MJ spiritedly, feeling stronger already, "I could pay them back for everything.

"That's the spirit," the creature smiled.

"I'll be able to make the rules!"

"Yes, you will."

MJ looked up. "So all I have to do is ask you?"

"You don't even have to do that!" the creature laughed. "I'll be back!" and he disappeared. MJ licked the blood on her cheek, all her senses buzzing. It tasted bitter, but that would soon be cancelled by the sweet taste of revenge.

* * *

Gohan pulled back from the microscope.

"I can't tell what it is sir," he said to his mentor. He slide the microscope to the Professor, who had a look him self.

"Humm, my eye site isn't what it used to be," he muttered. He pulled away. "I can't tell whether there is a change or not. Dam Sonic wanting us to check all heroes for any mutation changes, no ones gone crazy for weeks."

"Still, we better scan it again?" Gohan semi-asked. When the Professor nodded, he went to put the DNA sample in the machine. But he never got that far.

As the two scientists collapsed, coughing in the red smoke, Him calmly relived Gohan of the sample.

"Don't need you either," he said glancing at the Professor. "No, this time, your stupid daughters are going to be undone by a different relative." Even he'd been surprised by the ease of manipulation of MJ. But she was young and naïve.

He glanced at the sample in his claw. "Just needs a small modification," he said, and he drew out a small bottle of black liquid. "Your carelessness Brick is going to cost your 'girl friend' everything," he sniggered, "but don't worry, once the world has been destroyed, she can join you…"

And as he laughed, he added a small drop of the liquid to the DNA sample, which reacted violently.

* * *

MJ was boxing with her shadow when the creature returned.

"You got it?" she asked. The creature handed her a glass of bright red liquid.

"There you go," he said smugly, "all you have to do is drink."

MJ nodded, and looked down at the bubbling liquid. Then she looked at her self one last time in the mirror. Her pink eyes told her self of the suffering she'd experienced, even without the blood on her face. But they also told of fear. She suppressed it.

"Bye-bye MJ," she whispered, and she swallowed it.

The creature smiled. "My work here is done," he said and disappeared cackling.

"Wait," MJ called, but suddenly stomach pain struck her. She groaned for a moment, then it seemed to flood through her veins to ever part of her body. Her arms swelled, her chest tightened, her legs stiffened and her head burned. Her mouth seemed to widen, and two huge mandibles (fangs) shot out. They dripped with a shiny liquid. And the pain continued.

* * *

Eventually, she picked herself up off the floor of the toilet, and glanced in the mirror. The creature had been right in many respects. She was a lot stronger in appearance, and those teeth, although vicious, weren't two noticeable. Her pink eyes were the same, except they now showed a different emotion; a slightly crazy self confidence. She flexed her muscles slightly, and ripped a near by sink off the wall. So she was a freak, but she felt great.

There was a problem however. She didn't remember who she was. She didn't remember much. What she did know was that she wanted revenge, on two kids who were at the local hospital, trapped and unable to run. Like flies caught in a web, she thought. It was a suitable metaphor, because MJ was hungry, and no longer human.

* * *

From a safe distance, Him smiled. Those two kids would be the first of many, he thought, and it would finally crack those puffs! Phase one of his plan was finally complete.

* * *

**HAPPY ENDING GUARANTEE:** If you do not find the ending to this story happy I will never write another story, and say who I am. Okay? You can call down the lynch mob now. Oh yes, and before you all ask, I don't hate children, they're just easy targets, and this is a T rated story, so there will be no despicable violence. Right, please review, feel free to be honest, and ask questions. Thanks for reading. 


	7. Missing

**7. Missing**

Thanks to Edward's help, Blossom had managed to finish early for the first time in ten years (or, for the first time since Sonic was sick.) Still, she was troubled, trapped between dashing one kid's dreams or another's. She had talked to Buttercup about it.

"You best get it over and just say it Blossom," she'd said, "but you must talk to Eddy about it first."

Blossom didn't know how she was going to talk to Eddy. How was she going to start by semi apologising and end by throwing up another problem? So as Edward watched television, Blossom tried to get though to the Professor. When MJ got home she thought, I'll send them off there for the evening, and then me and Eddy can trash this out.

When she called him however, she didn't get through.

"Must have turned the phone off or something," she said. Then she looked at her watch. Four thirty. Might be doing something complicated, she began to think, when something occurred to her. Shouldn't the school bus be here by now?

* * *

Eddy slumped at his desk slightly. Double D came into the office, excitedly. 

"We just sold five cars in an hour!" he said excitedly. "That's a new record!"

"Horary," said Eddy with out any enthusiasm. Double D paused, and sat down.

"What's wrong Eddy? You're normally delighted with any sales. Trouble at home?"

"Why do you always ask that when I seem depressed?"

"Why don't you just tell me what the problem is?" So Eddy did. Double D thought about it for a moment.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Eddy said quietly. "How do I apologise for how I spoke without apologising for what I said." Double D coughed slightly. "Yes, I'll apologise for the personal insult bit we got on to at the end," Eddy noted.

"Well, you can't really," Double D said. "But your both so stubborn it was bound to happen eventually."

"I'm not stubborn!"

"Okay, okay. But one of you needs to back down, so you can open a dialogue over this problem, for the sake of your kids. Is Blossom likely to back down?"

"Maybe if Buttercup got to her."

"Then all you have to do is start by apologising for your tone. Say you accept you weren't helping as you should of. Then she'll probably apologise for what she said, and you can work forward again."

"Maybe…" They were interrupted by the phone. Double D and Eddy looked at it.

"It's her," said Eddy, looking at the read out.

"Then go on," said Double D, "answer, and sort this out."

Eddy took a deep breath. "Hello?" he said, even though he knew who it was.

"Eddy have you got MJ with you?" He was rather taken aback by this. There was panic in her voice.

"No, why what's wrong?"

"Shit!" said Blossom. "She didn't come home from school, and they claim she never came in this morning."

"What? But I saw her on to the bus! Maybe she's with the professor."

"I tried that, he's in the medical bay or something at work, but he's fine. Shit, where could she be?" Blossom now really sounded like see was scared.

"Don't panic Blossom," said Eddy jumping to his feet, "don't panic, DON'T PANIC!" he shouted generally.**(sorry, british joke).**"I'll go call the police, and umm… you go find her!"

* * *

Brick was having a good day. He'd been so efficient that he arrived at the hospital early. Katharine landed in the corridor and quietly trotted down it. Brick felt too lazy to walk, and his horse seemed content to do the work. 

He did dismount when they reached the ward. Removing the hourglass from his robe, he had a good look at it.

"I believe Mrs Hixson has a few more minutes to live," he said, "so let's just stand out the way a bit." He gestured to Katharine to do so, but the horse just ignored him, letting people walk through her. Brick sighed and pressed himself into the wall, he couldn't stand people walking though him, especially when he wasn't expecting it. The hospital seemed quite, the calm before the storm, he supposed. Then, he heard some faint screams. Normally he would ignore that, but something told him that he ort to check this.

The room he passed into looked more like a bomb site than a hospital. Beds were over turned, and equipment smashed. The window had been completely ripped out, and stringy stuff hung from the ceiling. Yet Brick completely ignored all this, because his eyes had been drawn to the chaos in the centre.

Two kids, of about seven/eight, were cowering in the centre of the room, battered, bruised and absolutely terrified. One of them seemed to be missing a chunk of his arm. They were both staring are another thing that was standing on the ceiling. It looked like a monster, with blood running off two fangs, but as Brick looked, the orange hair, the pink eyes, the green tongue all gave it away. But he could barely believe it.

"Who makes the rules NOW!" it leered at the two kids; spit flying from her mouth, which then dissolved through the floor. The two victims whimpered miserably below. But fortunately for them, Brick found his tongue.

"MJ NO!" he shouted. The girl swung round. The two boys didn't move, they couldn't hear him or even see him. But she could.

"You… MJ…" she muttered confusedly. Brick approached carefully.

"Come on MJ, come down of the ceiling." MJ licked the blood around her lips, she looked completely insane.

"MJ…" she considered again, then she turned to Brick, and spat at him. The heap of acid went straight though him, and cut a hole in the wall behind. For once, Brick was glad he was dead.

"No MJ," he said as calmly as he could, "Come down."

MJ looked at him, shrieked, and jumped out the wrecked window. Brick sprinted over to it to look for a pink trail to see where she'd gone, but there wasn't one.

"Shit," he said (using the swear word of the day.) "So she can see me. I better get after her…"

Crash alarms went off round the corner. Brick jumped.

"Ahhhggg. Mrs Hixson, I'm coming…"

* * *

Blossom had been searching the streets for hours now. So had Buttercup and Butch. Neither of them had reported anything. Eddy was also looking, as far as she knew, Edward was being looked after by the police. 

Blossom wasn't searching right this moment though. She was having a brief cup of tea. But the company was not good.

"Do I have to listen to this Sonic, it really isn't a good time." She didn't hide her anger, but she hadn't told Sonic about MJ yet.

"Now Blossom," said Sonic, "I think you'll find this very interesting. Those two kids that bullied your daughter were attacked today…"

"It wasn't me!"

"Oh don't worry about that," said Sonic dismissively, "we got a good description. Orange, shoulder length hair, pink eyes, no nose, green tongue, about five or six years old, and in a torn pink dress. She entered by the window on a twelfth story, and left by it." He smiled at his shocked second in command. "So you decided to tell MJ, did you?" He could barely hide his glee.

"No." Blossom was stunned.

"Oh." Sonic seemed rather deflated. "Well I had a word with the police chief, and he's agreed to cover it up for you. Apparently your old friends."

"MJ…" moaned Blossom distantly.

"BUT," Sonic broke her trance, "they view her as a serious threat to public safety. And they are going to shoot to kill from the day after tomorrow. So you have 30 hours," he finished, looking at his watch.

Rather inconveniently, from Sonics view, Blossom started sobbing. For a moment he felt guilty, but thirty hours was as much as he'd been able to prise out of that police chief. He sighed mentally, by managed to show no emotion on the outside.

"Chop chop," he said, trying to sound upbeat, "It will be dark soon. You don't want her out in the dark, do you."

* * *

So her name was MJ. That was a start she thought. And she'd had some element of revenge, MJ thought. She'd be back for them later. 

She was hanging off the side of a building, the wind in her hair, feeling free and invincible. She could do what ever she wanted now, she thought. And what she wanted now was food.

The sun was setting. Good, she thought, soon hunting conditions would be perfect. As long as it was meat, she didn't really care what she ate. Oh, and it had to be alive…

* * *

Thanks for reading, please review. Oh, and remember the happy ending promise and all that. Thanks. MJ's condition will be revieled next chapter. 


	8. Caught in the Web

**Author's note: **I have been looking back through old reviews of my stories, and have become aware that I may have in places, used other peoples suggestions without giving credit. I'm sorry if I have, and will try to in future. All my stories evolve as I write them, so feel free to suggest things. Thanks.

**

* * *

8. Caught in the Web**

The darkness was enveloping down in the inner city. Buttercup was tired now as she plodded the dank streets. She was tired, and wet, and she needed a drink. But then again, Blossom's daughter was missing, and if she lost her…

"I'd never forgive myself," she muttered. "I can't have her go through what I did." So she kept going. A little wonder on foot, she thought, then I'll set off flying again.

Suddenly, there was a sound in a nearby alley. Buttercup looked round. The alley we dark and cold, but she had a good look down it, and there was defiantly something down there. Maybe… well it was worth a look.

She walked slowly down the alley. There was another sound, a creaking. Something smashed to her side. There was a low shrieking overhead. Buttercup tried to keep her head up, but she was feeling something strange. She thought it might be fear.

"Hello?" she said. Another noise, sounded like footsteps. She swung round.

"MJ?" she asked. Something smashed to the ground in front of her. Buttercup bent down slightly. It was the bones of a pigeon, which had been striped clean of all flesh. The Green puff took a step back, and turned back round again.

"Hel… Ahaggh!" she screamed, having wondered straight into something sticky. She swung round in panic, and just got more tangled up. She looked up, and too her ultimate horror she realised that she was trapped in a huge spider's web. Her worse nightmare.

She started trashing wildly for a moment, before she heard something that filled her with fear. It was a low sniggering, that echoed slightly around the alley. Buttercup froze, hoping against hope that it hadn't seen her. She watched as it crawled across the wall, only a shadow visible. Suddenly, it disappeared from view. Buttercup glanced round rapidly, half wanting to see where it had gone, half hoping that it had gone.

It hadn't the creature jumped on to her, standing on her stomach and grabbing the web either side of her. She looked her up and down, smiling manically, blood dripping from her mouth. Buttercup was still frozen, but it was only when she burped, (expelling a few feathers from her mouth) that Buttercup recognised MJ.

"MJ?" she whispered. MJ responded to her name and looked at Buttercup happily.

"Hello lunch," she said.

Buttercup ripped her self out of the way of MJ's lunge, which lead to the kid biting her own web. The two long teeth got tangled up in it, and as she ripped her self free, Buttercup also scrambled clear. She picked her self up and sung round to MJ.

"I don't want to hurt you," she said, trying to hide her fear, "but I will if you attack me."

MJ giggled like the five year old she was, and then lunged again. Buttercup instinctively threw a punch, which MJ caught in her hand. She then began to crush; to Buttercups horror she was at least as strong as her. The green puff blasted MJ's hand with a lazar beam, before turning to run. She couldn't stand it any longer. Just as she was flying in to the air, some webbing rapped round her legs. Buttercup let out a scream as she was yanked back, but with a panicky kick, she broke free, and flew away as fast as she could.

Down in the streets below, MJ was disappointed with this result. She was hungry, and that would have been a good meal. But something was nagging her. Something about that person had been familiar. While she was thinking, someone else was also at work, carefully lowering a puff proof cage to the floor. It had a piece of raw meat in it.

Sure enough, MJ smelt it. She dived into the cage ripping and biting into the food as if she hadn't eaten for weeks. Quickly, the door was slammed and locked, and the kid was hit by a few tranquiliser darts, sending her into a deep sleep.

* * *

Blossom paced up and down the corridor of the SSR. She turned back to Buttercup.

"Spider?" she asked again. Her sister nodded.

"She'd made a web, she had a taste for blood, and I got that same fearing of f…f…ear."

Butch was hugging Buttercup gently, who was badly shaken. Blossom wished that Eddy was here too, she badly needed some support. This was a nightmare.

"But how could that have happened?" she asked.

"Umm, I might be able to help there," said the Professor, "you see, when I was knocked out, I was doing some simply tests on Spiderman's DNA. When I woke up it was missing."

"You mean someone stole it and…" Blossom tailed off in shock.

"Yes, but there is no way it should have changed her this much. Whoever stole it must have tampered with the sample."

Blossom clenched her fists. "Whoever did this is going to pay…" she hissed. She hadn't been this anger since… since she'd been in that alley fifteen years ago. That shock her again slightly. She tried to rein the anger in a bit. "We must find her quickly, before the police do, or she harms someone who is too weak to fight back."

"I've got a car," said The Professor, and he set off.

"I'm going to make some phone calls," Butch said, sounding like he'd thought of something, "if you're okay," he said to Buttercup. She nodded, so he sped off.

"Coming Buttercup," asked Blossom, gesturing to the city, but the green puff shock her head slowly.

"Sorry Blossom. I can't, I'm too scared." Blossom's shoulders sank, and Buttercup looked at her feet. "I'm allowed to be scared of something." She said mournfully. "Call Bubbles. She'd help."

"I can't do that," said Blossom, "She's on her honeymoon."

"Oh you really must stop this!"

"What Buttercup, you saying I should be more selfish again, and do what I want without any regard to anyone else."

"No," Buttercup was feeling more herself again, "you should be LESS selfish. Like when you're depressed all the time and won't tell us why, it's maddening! Put your self in Bubble's shoes. How is she going to feel if she comes back from the best to weeks of her life to find that MJ's been shot and you didn't feel you could call her back to help you out. She'd feel like the worse sister in the world!"

Blossom winced. "Do you really think they'll kill her?" Buttercup sighed, and handed Blossom a phone.

"Hello," Bubble's voice floated dreamily down the telephone. Blossom sighed.

"I thought it would be day time in France."

"Hi Blossom. No, it's early morning, and it's been a long night," she put unnecessary emphasis on the word long. "What can I do for you?"

Blossom took a deep breath and explained. It wasn't more than a minute after she'd finished speaking, that a blue light flashed in the corridor, and Bubbles and Boomer appeared, as dressed as they could be under the circumstances.

"We're hear sis!" said Bubbles energetically. And with Boomer nodding beside her, Blossom felt happy for the first time all day.

"Okay, thanks," she said. "But you may want to swap tops before we start looking…"

* * *

Mojo Jojo was studding the sample very carefully. He murmured happily to himself, before putting it back in the freezer. It needed work, but the basis of a plan was there.

The phone rang. He muttered loudly and picked it up.

"You have reached the phone within the house that belongs to Mojo Jojo, and it is Mojo Jojo, the occupier and owner of said building that you are speaking to. Be brief, for I am busy."

"Hi Dad," said Butch briskly, "have you seen MJ."

"MJ? What is this MJ of which you speak?"

"Blossom's daughter MJ."

"No, I have not seen the kid MJ, who you describe to me as Blossoms daughter, not with my own eyes, or with any other seeing implement." Butch sighed. "But," said Mojo, as kindly as he could, "I will keep my ear to the ground, in the metaphorical rather then the literal sense, and if I hear of anything, that is to say if a statement comes to my attention that reveals the whereabouts, or location of said child, I will inform you, that is I will make sure that you are aware of the information that I am aware of on the subject of the female child that was bore to Blossom."

"Thanks Dad, that's great." Butch hung up.

Mojo swung on his heel, and walked over to the window door of his internal test room. Inside, MJ was crawling all over the rooms, occasionally swinging over to the other side, to crawl there. Mojo smiled. There was no escape for her. Soon his most dastardly plan ever would come to fruition.

* * *

Thanks for reading, please review. And feel free to ask questions. (You must have some.) 


	9. Him's Hijacked Plan

**9. Him's Hijacked Plan**

They'd been searching for hours now, and the sun was beginning to rise. There had been no sigh of anything. At least there were no signs of any more attacks, Blossom thought. Still, she was tired now. And she looked it.

Bubbles drifted up alongside. "You should rest," she said gently. Blossom pulled her self up right.

"I'm not tired," she yawned, "and I'm not resting till we've found her." Bubbles rested a hand on her shoulder.

"I know you're worried, but even if we find her, you won't be any use if she is insane and you are this tired. And I think that Edward might need some support from his mother, he's probably worried sick about it all."

Blossom nodded. "It's nearly light, see if Buttercup's got her nerve back."

"Okay Blossom, try to get some sleep."

* * *

The kid MJ looked kind of cute, in a slightly insane way, Mojo thought. He watched from a safe distance as she chased the bouncy ball around the room. Eventually, she webbed it against the wall, so Mojo released another one into the room. She chased after it again, like a crazy half-spider creature, not like a human. So Mojo crossed another thing off his list. 

There was a knock on the door.

"It's open," he called, "that is to say the door which you are currently knocking on is not secured or…"

"YOU THIEF!" shouted Him. Mojo wished he'd locked the door.

"What?" he whined.

"You've stolen my plan," the red demon hissed. "That kid in that room is MY creation, and MY plan to destroy those Puffs!"

"Finders keepers," Mojo said bluntly, he had no wish to waste his breath on his 'guest'. Him watched in furry as Mojo wondered straight passed him, into his kitchen, and started cooking.

"But this plan was going to work!" he moaned, "I'm not going to let your stupid playground rules ruin it!"

"Your plans never work, in the sense that they always fail. But mine, Mojo jojo's plans, they always succeed, and this plan I have will succeed in doing what I want it to do, and therefore is much better than yours because your plan will fail, and mines won't."

"Your plans do not 'always succeed.'"

"They always succeed!" Mojo repeated, "Just maybe in not all of the pre-stated objectives, but in at least one!"

"So what is _your_ plan," said Him dismissively, "to invite them round for dinner and feed them one of your casseroles, because that nearly wiped out all the super villains at last years Christmas party."

"No, this food is not for them. But my plan is brilliant. Firstly, I will cure MJ of her ailment, that is to say, make her as human as she now can be, and totally safe for any man, women, child or any other class of being that happens to be near her at the time. Then, I will give her back to her parents completely unharmed, and totally safe for any man, women, child or any other class of being that happens to be near her at the time. Then…"

"YOU WHAT!"

"I will give her back to the puffs completely unharmed, and totally safe for any man, women, child or any other class of being that happens to be near her at the time," Mojo repeated in a much smaller voice.

"YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO MAKE HER ATTACK THEM AFTER YOU HAVE GIVEN HER BACK TO THEM! THAT'S THE WORST PLAN EVER!"

"But I haven't got to…"

Him waved for silence, and got it. He composed himself, and spoke again. "Do you intend for the puffs to be hurt in anyway by MJ. Just a yes or no answer."

"No."

"Then, my dear Mojo, it is the WORST PLAN EVER!"

Mojo sighed and grabbed the food her had been preparing. As Him ranted about how he was going to be in charge of this plan form now on, he put the food neatly on a plate and added a knife and fork. Then he took it with him out the kitchen, the furious ranting villain still following.

"So what's your idea?" he said coolly, when Him finally had to pause for a breath.

"Ah. My idea is… to pack your bags. We are temporally going to somewhere where the puffs won't find you."

"Why me?"

"Because I need to be able to surprise them…"

"Okay then." Mojo sighed. With luck, he could still carry out his plan. He walked into the room that MJ was in, put the plate on the floor, and ran out. Sure enough, MJ scampered over, but confronted with cooked food and a knife and fork, she suddenly started eating it like a human.

"Eureka!" the evil monkey cried. Now to move on to stage two without Him noticing.

* * *

Blossom entered the house to find Edward was alone. He jumped of the sofa when she came in, but slumped when he saw she was alone. 

"Hi Edward," Blossom said as naturally as she could. "Dad not in."

"No, he went back out to look an hour ago." Tears were in his eyes. "She will be okay, won't she mum?"

Blossom wished that someone would tell her that. But she put on a brave face. "I hope so." She bent down and gave her first born a long hug, as he began to weep. "I hope so," she repeated.

Latter, she was trying to sleep when the phone rang.

"Hello?" she murmured.

"Blossom it's me," said Boomer, "we've got something."

* * *

"It's defiantly Mojo's note," Blossom said, "it goes on for ten pages." 

The five Puffs/Ruffs were standing around it. Blossom was too tried to show any emotion, but Bubbles was concerned, Boomer slightly nonplussed (he hadn't been a hero for as long as the rest), Buttercup was angry (back to normal then) and Butch was looking very betrayed.

"Can anyone give me the gist of it?" Blossom asked, flicking though it distractedly.

"He says that he has MJ," said Bubbles, producing a hair from the letter, "and that he won't harm her. But he claims that she needed lots of medical treatment when he found her, plus accommodation and food, so he wants us to pay for it."

"How much?" asked Blossom.

"Five hundred thousand pounds…"

"Dollars"

"… dollars and a promise that we won't beat him up for it," said Buttercup, deadpan.

"So it's a ransom note." Blossom calmly. "Well what did we expect?"

"I expected something else," muttered Butch angrily.

"But we don't have five hundred thousand pou…"

"Dollars…"

"CURANCEY UNITS!" Blossom shouted. There was a pause.

"We may have five hundred thousand yen," suggested Boomer. Everyone ignored him. Blossom shock herself.

"Give me some coffee," she said, "I'm going to see Sonic."

* * *

Sonic looked over the pages and pages of notes. Blossom stood in front of the desk, (Sonic hadn't let her sit,) and waited. Eventually the hedgehog looked up. 

"Five hundred thousand pounds of taxpayer's money?"

"Dol… yes." Sonic clicked a pen in his moth for a moment.

"Mojo is Butch's and Boomer's dad right?"

"Yes."

"So he's MJ's uncle once removed or something, right?"

"Y…es."

"And the note doesn't actually threaten MJ's safety, does it."

"No but…"

"And now she's safely impounded with relatives, she is no longer a danger to the public, is she."

Blossom couldn't believe this. "Yes, but…"

"Then this is a family dispute, matter for the police. Thank you." He swung his feet off the desk, and resumed playing with a desk toy. After about a minute, he looked up again. "Any reason you're still hear?"

Blossom was speechless. "B… but you helped Spiderman!"

"The girl's life was in imminent danger, MJ's not. This is a matter for the police, not me."

"I… I… I've given up my whole life to helping others; I deserve some pay back, to bend the rules just once." Blossom was almost begging now, but when Sonic looked up once more, there was not a scrap of mercy in his eyes.

"You got the rules bent enough fifteen years ago," his voice had an under tone of hatred, "Now get out, before I get the ex Justice League to remove you. They might be interested in a story while they're here. What do you think?"

* * *

The table was strewn with accounts and bank statements. Eddy scanned them and punched numbers into a calculator. Blossom just stared into space. The rest of them were trying to track down Mojo, but since he wasn't in his home, they weren't having much luck. Eddy eventually sat back. 

"Okay, if we sell the business, all our shares and investments, the house and the cars and empty our savings to the overdraft limit we can make one hundred thousand, in cash. We can't get anymore, so I'm sure he'd be willing to…"

"I know how I can get more," Blossom said emotionlessly, "and so does Mojo." Eddy paused and looked up suddenly.

"Do you have to?" She nodded.

"I have no choice." She got up. Eddy jumped up and raced over to her. He took her in her arms and held her tight. Blossom sniffed.

"I'm sorry Eddy. If I'd just told them, this would never have happened. I'm sorry…" she started to sob. Eddy squeezed her again.

"It's okay," he whispered softly. "I forgive you, let's just deal with it." She looked up and kissed him tenderly. Then she left.

* * *

Butch had almost given up. He was boiling quicker then the kettle he was waiting for. Mojo had told him he was going to help, how he could betray them like this! That monkey was going to get it this time… 

"Got it!" shouted Boomer. Butch raced over to the table he was sitting at.

"What?" he said. Boomer showed his a line in the ransom letter. Butch looked at it. "_Tulip heads in side, water areas should, not open the,mild yellow,internal door earflap again?_ What does it mean?"

"Its code!" said Boomer, "I thought this note was wrong all along, because he doesn't gloat enough. Take the first letter of each word and put a space at each comma!" **(Do it your self time, mg56)**

Butch did. Then he smiled.

"I knew it," he said, "I'm going to make a phone call."

* * *

Someone was watching. 

Blossom was standing on top of a rock, on top of a hill, looking over Townsville. The sun was just setting again, and the wind blew in her face, letting her hair blow like a cape behind her. She was wearing a tight fitting black outfit with gloves, that covered all the skin other than her head. With her hands on her hips, and the few tears in her eyes complimented by a determined expression, made her look very heroic, almost clichéd. So did her the words she spoke:

"I know you out their somewhere MJ, and I'm sorry for what I've done to you. But I do this for you."

She tucked her hair into her clothes, and was about to whip a balaclava over her head, (they'd probably guess, but she wasn't going to make it easy for them), when the observer realised something. Something that had been bothering them for a while.

"Blossom, wait!" they shouted, "We need to talk."

She stopped and turned round…

* * *

Okay, we'll leave it there for now. Next chapter coming soon, but please review, even if you haven't before, (I know there are at least five of you out there.) Oh yes, and the mystery person at the end isn't Brick, but he'll be back in it soon. 


	10. Why Sonic Hates Blossom

The purpose of this chapter is NOT to make you feel sympathy for Sonic. He's meant to be a jerk, this just starts to explain why. Oh, and I feel at this point I should probably apologise to any Sonic fans reading who don't like this interpretation of him. Okay?

**

* * *

10. Why Sonic hates Blossom**

"I don't have time for you now!" Blossom said bitterly to Sonic, "I'm trying to raise the money that you won't help me with!" Sonic gave a rye smile.

"Legally or illegally?" he asked. Blossom spat.

"What would you do!"

"Exactly what you're doing," the hedgehog said bluntly, "except I would have punched 'me' before going to do it. So I've changed my mind."

"You mean you are going to help?"

"Only if we can talk first. I believe I owe you an explanation."

Blossom blinked. "Are you drunk?"

"No!" said Sonic touchily, "I just thought you might like to know something." He walked past the edge of the cliff, and sat down on the rock beside her. For the briefest moment, Blossom considered pushing him off.

"What would I want to know," she asked instead.

"Why I hate you."

"I don't want to know that," Blossom lied. "If I wanted to know anything about you, it would be why since you hate me so much, did you cover up for me? Was it so you could control me for the rest of time, or did you use up all your niceness at once?"

"Okay miss perfect…"

"I'm not perfect Sonic."

"If you hadn't watched Brick die and then killed Superman would you be perfect?"

"NO! Don't just sit there and make cheap shots Sonic, if you want to talk, talk. And I don't want excuses, just the truth!"

"Okay, the truth, you can have the truth," Sonic stood up angrily, "I am jealous of you! Happy?"

Blossom was stunned for a moment. "Jealous of me?" Most people seemed to talk about how awful her life was.

"Yes." Sonic seemed shocked himself. "Yes I am." Blossom sat down.

"Why."

Sonic also sat down again. "Okay." He paused, to consider how to phrase this. "You became a superhero practically when you were born. Sure you fought for truth and justice and all that crap and to defend your city, but every night, you went home to a safe warm bed with your loving family. I started being a superhero because my planet was being ruled by a crazy lunatic, who wanted to enslave us all. I slept in muddy holes and cold fields. I watched my home get turned into a polluted waste land."

"Forgive me if I don't grieve for you," Blossom responded deadpan, "but I'm a bit short on sympathy at the moment."

"I don't want your sympathy," Sonic snapped, before calming down, "I want your understanding. Can you now understand that when I arrived here that I could possibly suffer form a hint of jealousy?"

Blossom thought for a moment. They'd been about fifteen when Sonic had arrived. "Possibly," she conceded, "but if what your saying is true, then a lot of superheroes had idyllic lives compared to you…"

"I'll say," Sonic interrupted, "remember Superman's funeral?"

"How can I forget, you made me speak at it!"

"Lavish service, full state honours. When I lost friends in the war at home we used to…" he tailed off. "What was your point?"

"Why me? Why not anyone else, Bubbles and Buttercup for that matter? Was it that I showed weakness first?"

"No, I seem to recall hating you before I covered up for you," Sonic said, "But there are two answers for that. Firstly, you know chemical X?"

"Yes, we were sort of created from it."

"Know what it is?"

"No."

"I do." Blossom jumped.

"You know what chemical X is!"

"Ever heard of the Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, there those things you have to collect in those stupid games, or you get told that you haven't actually completed it when you reach the end."

"Quite," Sonic said through gritted teeth. "They are some fairly unstable gems which when someone made a mistake with them in a machine, started all the evil that lead to my planet being enslaved. But the Emeralds themselves were created from a black liquid that has a constancy similar to water, and was so unstable, that it was perfectly capable of turning 'sugar, spice and everything nice' into three living and breathing little girls."

"So you hate us because we were created from the same energy source that ruined your life?"

"I don't recall saying that I hated Bubbles and Buttercup," Sonic said, "But that is one reason I hate you." He caught Blossom's expression, "I never said I was proud of it, did I?"

"No, but WHY ME!"

"You know, I've often pondered that myself. It was pretty much an instant hatred, but I've only just worked out why. It occurred to me when I saw you standing on that rock, preparing to go rob some banks for your daughter's sake. It occurred to me that I would have done the same thing. But think about it. We're both good leader in the field, when I was young I used to try and put everyone else first, even if my good intentions lead to problems, like you did… and do. I guess I think we're similar, that you are what I could have been."

"I'm nothing like you," Blossom cut in.

"Sure, you think that. But if I told you more, you'd see."

"Are you going to tell me more?"

"Do you dump your problems on anyone else?"

"I try not to…"

"Then let's leave it there then."

There was a long pause.

"Sonic, did you liberate your planet?" Blossom asked.

"Oh yes," he spoke with no emotion, "it was the greatest achievement of my life."

"Then why are you here on earth?"

Sonic sat in absolute silence, until his phone rang.

"Yes… Great, we can do that…. See you soon." He hung up.

"What was that?" Blossom asked.

"That was Butch. He's done a deal with Mojo that should save us some money. Right," he stood up and stretched. "Let's get going to save your daughter. And two more things…"

"Yes Sonic?"

"One, just because I've said why I hate you, it doesn't mean that I now like you."

"Good."

"And if you tell anyone anything I've just said, I kill you. Got it?"

* * *

Okay, please review. Thanks. 


	11. Family Fued

**11. Family Feuds**

Blossom needed a rest; she'd barely slept for 48 hours now. But then again, they were so close to MJ she felt as if she could almost touch her daughter. She had to keep going.

Still, it felt a bit defeatist, giving in to Mojo like this. They (that is Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, Boomer, Butch, Eddy – who'd insisted in coming against everyone's better judgement – and the bastard of a hedgehog) were standing in the centre of Mojo's home, with a pile of scientific equipment.

"Why's it better for us to give Mojo equipment rather than money," she asked Butch, who'd made the deal.

"Firstly it's cheaper," the green ruff responded, "and secondly, if we know what equipment we've given him, we know what he can build with it."

"Which makes it better all round," Bubbles added as she removed splinters from Buttercups hand – the green puff muttering that Mojo's front door used to be built properly inbetween yelps of pain.

Sonic was taping his foot on the ground impatiently. "When's that spasticated Monkey going to call?" The phone rang as soon as he'd finished speaking, and he dived for it. Boomer beat him there.

"Hello, the Jojo residence, Boomer Jojo speaking… yes… yes… got it… thank you." He hung up. Everyone stared at him.

"Well?" said Eddy eventually.

"Oh yes," said Boomer, "when Mojo calls, remind me to tell him that the window cleaner won't be coming tomorrow." Before everyone could throw stuff at him, the phone rang again.

"Hello, the Jojo…"

"GIVE ME THAT!" Sonic snatched the phone off him. "WHAT... oh." He turned round. "It's for you," he handed the phone to Blossom. She took it nervously.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Blossom. It is I, Mojo Jojo, who is speaking to you, that is to say that Mojo Jojo is the person with whom you are conversing via this telecommunication devise. It was also I who captured your daughter _with no help from any other super villain, _and I who detained her to the point that articles and goods were handed over to me, Mojo Jojo, in order to secure the release of said child from the detention that she is currently in. I would like to reiterate that _no other super villains were involved, _it was just me, Mojo Jojo."

He stopped to breath, so Blossom cut in.

"We've paid the ransom."

"Good. Then you and the Hedgehog… OW!... and the oldest of your children who you refer to by the name of Edward will precede to the location coming through on the fax machine. No one else will come with you, especially not your sisters. Understand?"

"Why must I bring Edward?" said Blossom.

"I don't kno… OW!... because if you don't, the child MJ will not be returned to you!" the phone went dead. Blossom sighed, and relayed the instructions to the others.

"It's a trap," said Butch quickly.

"Not necessarily," Boomer interjected, "Mojo does like his stupid routines, it could just be that."

"I don't care if it is a trap or it isn't!" Buttercup said angrily, "why can't I OW!"

"Got another one," said Bubbles, holding up a splinter. "Be careful Blossom," she added, "we'll be here if you need back up."

"Th…"

"Great, glad that's sorted," Sonic said quickly, "let's grab your son and get this over with," and he grabbed Blossom by the wrist and dragged her off at full speed.

"BRING BACK OUR DAUGHTER BLOSSOM!" Eddy shouted after them.

* * *

Brick stopped by a shelf. On it he expected to find a set of hourglass that were about to expire. Instead, it was completely empty.

"Hum, must be a very safe day today," he mussed to himself, and was about to go and take some time off when he bumped into his boss. "Oh, hello Death."

_It is not a very safe day today, _Death said. _I gave your hourglasses to someone else._

"Oh, why?"

_Because it is time for you to take a test._

"What sort of test?" Death handed Brick a decent sized hour glass.

_An intelagance test,_ he said and walked off. Brick watch him go and then glanced at the name on the hour glass.

* * *

MJ sat on the ground in a courtyard in the middle of an industrial estate. Mojo had told her to stay there and that her parents would be there soon, so she did.

She'd been thinking more clearly ever since she'd eaten that cooked food, but she was still confused. She had vague memoriesof attacking Nick and George, and Aunty Buttercup, but she didn't feel bad about it. She felt her two fanged teeth again. She knew they were weird, but they didn't feel weird. She also knew it was wrong to eat raw meat, but it had tasted so good when she had.

Her main concern right now was her parents. They were surely going to be furious. She'd effectively run away, she'd attacked people, including her own aunty, and she'd turned her self in to a sort of monster. When they found out she'd done it voluntarily… They may even reject her, she thought; think that she was no longer their daughter.

She leaned over and looked at her reflection in a near by puddle. Something felt strangely right about it.

"I am me," she whispered.

Suddenly, there was a whizzing and then a screeching sound. MJ looked up. Sonic slid to a stop sending Blossom and Edward (who was rather bemused) tumbling to the ground. When they picked themselves up, they both spoke at once.

"MJ!" they yelled, without a hint of anger. She got up and was about to run towards them, tears beginning to form in her eyes, when something pulled her back. The expressionappearing on Blossom's face told her this wasn't good.

"Oh I am so sorry," Him said smugly, "but I'm afraid I have to brake up this happy reunion, because some of us aren't being completely honest."

"HIM!" shouted Blossom, as Edward scrambled backwards behind her, "I should have known. Put my daughter down!"

"I'm sorry Blossom, but she's mine now. I made her what she is today, and she owes me."

"Hey! You said…" but MJ's protestations were lost as she smelt meat. Him handed MJ the chunk of flesh, and she ripped into it uncontrollably.

"Oh it was so easy," Him reflected, "all I needed was some of Spiderman's DNA and a bit of chemical X," he showed off the bottle, "to monster it up a bit."

"Where did you get that from!" demanded Blossom and Sonic together.

"I extracted it from someone very close to you Blossom," Him mussed. "Funny story actually, shame you'll never get to here it!"

Blossom watched in horror as Sonic sidled up along side.

"He one of your villains?" he asked. Blossom nodded slowly: she'd spread her feet slightly and tensed up, clenching her fists, ready for action. Sonic, completely relaxed, glanced at Him before looking back.  
"He's just a piece of spaghetti! This shouldn't take long!"

Him looked up, and tapped the gorging Spider-girl on the shoulder. "Deal with the hedgehog, will you MJ?"

She looked up, blood from the dinner dripping down her face. Then, she flicked out her hand, and webbing shot from her wrist. Sonic had time to get to "what the…?" before he was encased from head to toe. The tube that had been a hedgehog toppled over and rolled away into a corner. MJ returned to gorging.

"Mum…." Edward said nervously. Blossom twitched.

"It will be okay Edward, don't be scared." It made her feel stronger, she had been absolutely petrified.

"Oh I'm afraid things are very far from okay," Him said evilly, "for one of us here is a liar. For you see kids…"

"DON'T YOU DARE…" Blossom began, but she had no way of stopping it.

"Your mother is a superhero, with powers and everything!"

The silence was terrible. Edward froze behind Blossom. She turned round to face him.

"I…" see began, but when she saw the look of pure crushing disappointment in her sons red eyes she stopped dead. He gave her another look before scooting into a corner of the court yard. Blossom wished she could go after him, but instead she had to divert her eyes frontward, because MJ had stopped eating.

"You lied to me," she hissed through her teeth. Blossom shock slightly.

"That's it," Him encouraged, "tell your 'mother' how angry you are"

"I SUFFERED BECAUSE OF YOU!" MJ's voice was twisted with hissing undertones. Her pink eyes glowed feverously, acid started dripping from her blood stained teeth, dark highlights formed in her orange hair, and her muscles tensed, showing just how strong she was.

"MJ PLEASE," Blossom said desperately, "I can explain!"

"Oh she can't hear you. Mojo turned her back from her spider mind state with cooked food, but the taste of raw meet has nicely reversed the affect. So now the only thing her human side can provide her is anger and hatred!" he tapped MJ on the head. "Go kill," he said, and with a bloodcurdling shriek, MJ launched her self at her bewildered Mum.

* * *

Will be continued in chapter 12. Please review. Thanks 


	12. Fight your daughter

**12. Fight your Daughter**

Blossom ducked MJ's initial attack, swinging round to watch her daughter side to a stop. In her mind, she knew there was no was she could fight her.

"MJ, please," she wailed, "I can explain!"

MJ turned round with her eyes burning with hatred and insanity. She spat and chucked her self at Blossom again. She had no option but to back off, taking the impacts of MJ's punches and kicks on her hands, trying to keep them off her body. Him cackled gleefully as Blossom found that see couldn't back off any further without passing though a wall, and being slightly distracted by this dilemma, she missed judged MJ's latest kick, and got smacked in the jaw.

It seemed to shatter immediately. Blossom grabbed it as she staggered off sideways. MJ fired some webbing, which grabbed Blossom by one hand and with a swift yank spun Blossom round, sending her to the floor.

She threw herself back to her feet, but MJ was quick enough to hit her again, sending her reeling again. She just managed to catch herself, and bring her hands up to block MJ's next attack, as the her kid swung another flurry of attacks.

It was infuriating in a way for Blossom. She could see so many openings in MJ's attacks, so many opportunities to strike back, opportunities she would normally take with out thinking. But she couldn't bring herself to hurt MJ. It was crazy. All she'd wanted to do was to protect MJ (and Edward) from this life, now she was fighting her.

"I don't want to hurt you MJ, I never wanted to hurt you!"

"Ah, but you did!" Him said smugly. "And now she's mine!" Blossom seethed. She had to find a way to stop MJ, and then that meddling bastard would get it big time! It was at about this point that she realised she'd once again backed off all the way across the caught yard, and was therefore out of room again.

This time she shot off upwards, causing MJ to punch the wall instead. She swung round to face MJ's oncoming attack, but it never came. MJ was scrambling on the wall staring at Blossom – who was hovering out of reach – and hissed at her. Only then did the obvious occur to Blossom, MJ didn't know how to fly!

"I'm going to stay up here until you calm down MJ!" She shouted. MJ hissed again, and then slung webbing at her. Blossom was rapped up in it and lobbed to the ground, slamming in to it hard. MJ then jumped on top of her, pinning her mother to the ground. And as Blossom desperately to get free, MJ smacked her round the head very hard. And again.

"AHHA, MJ, PLEASE," screamed Blossom, "I NEVER MEANT TO HURT YOU, I JUST WANTED TO PROTECT YOU!"

MJ paused, a slither of humanity appearing in her eyes. Blossom's head lulled to one side, and she could see Edward in her eye line. Her oldest child hadn't even been watching the fight; he was staring at the ground, drawing on it with his finger, making burbling noises. He looked totally crushed, in his own separate world of pain.

"Edward… MJ…" she moaned, but Him cut her off, in his moment of triumph.

"Oh was a pity," he crooned, "neither of your children care about you anymore Blossom. It must hurt you so much, I can almost imagine your pain. Let me put you out of your misery!"

He clicked his claw, and the humanity in MJ's eyes vanished. She lunged, mouth open and teeth showing, for Blossom who flinched, ready for pain the pain.

It never came, because MJ was bundled off Blossom by her son. Edward and MJ rolled in a ball across the caught yard and smacked into a wall.

"You're not going to do that MJ!" Edward said through gritted teeth. MJ hissed at him in response, and was about to attack, when suddenly she seemed distracted. She was staring at somewhere in the middle distance, her eyes moving from side to side, as if following something. Blossom couldn't see it, but Him seemed to be staring at the same point.

"OI, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" he screamed. Blossom had no idea who he was talking to, as she couldn't see them, but she had a plan now. All she had to was get out of this webbing.

* * *

I'm not particually happy with this story at the moment, so I'd apreciate some advice on how I can improve it slightly ,so please review. Thanks. 


	13. Unexpected Assistance

**13. Unexpected Assistance**

Back at Mojo's the others were waiting. Buttercup paced up and down furiously.

"Something's happen!" she snapped. "Why are they taking so long?"

"If Mojo's talking to them, they're making good time," Bubbles pointed out, looking at her watch.

"I still don't like it," said Buttercup.

"I agree," Boomer added, "Mojo seemed to be hinting pretty heavily that some one else was involved."

"Of course I was," said Mojo as he wondered in, "I… hey, what happened to my front door!"

There was a brief pause while everyone tried to work out if Mojo really had just been stupid enough to wonder straight into the middle of them, then everyone dived at him.

"Where's my family!" Eddy shouted at the now cowering monkey.

"Ditto," said Buttercup, brandishing her fists.

"And don't forget Sonic," said Boomer. "What?" he said as everyone briefly stared at him.

"Don't hit me! I haven't done anything to them! That is…"

"Cut the crap Mojo, where are they!"

Mojo pushed them off and walked into his kitchen. Buttercup was about to knock him out for that, when Bubbles reminded her that it was even more difficult to get an unconscious Mojo to cooperate.

"I am perfectly willing to help if you don't harass me, that is…" he caught a look at Buttercup's expression and sped up his talking, "they're with Him who has a plan to destroy all of you… accept possibly Eddy."

"YES! I don't get destroyed, I mean WHAT!"

"Err, no disrespect," said Butch to Eddy, "but leave the talking to us okay?" He turned to Mojo. "Are you going to tell us the plan, or are we going to beat it out of you?"

"I will not only inform you of the plan, I will also tell you how to stop it," Mojo said, still keeping an uneasy eye on Buttercup.

"Why?" the green puff asked menacingly.

"Because if Him destroys you, then I never will!"

"Can't argue with logic," Bubbles said. Buttercup stiffened, she was still unhappy with this.

"So what's the plan," she asked aggressively, "to get MJ to destroy us."

"Not quite. The plan is mainly that MJ will kill Blossom, and hopefully – from his point of view – a few more of you before you are forced to kill her. But as she dies, that is to say passes on due to the afore mentioned actions of one of you…"

"You're slipping again," Buttercup said, "speed it up!"

"… he will release MJ from her insanity and make her sane again, so you will feel that you killed her unnecessarily and destroy yourself through your guilt, and because there will be no Blossom to hold you together as she will be dead," Mojo finished quickly before gasping for breath.

"But now we know," said Bubbles attentively, "we can't fall for that. So we've won, thanks Mojo!"

"Err… I don't think we've won yet, MJ's still crazy, and Blossom's still going to die," Boomer added.

"Right!" said Butch, "lets go before Blossom gets it."

"WAIT!" Mojo shouted so he could stop them, "you need cooked food to make MJ sane again, that is nutritional supplement that has had the amount of heat energy it has in it risen to a point were it's texture and state has changed to a…."

"There's a quick takeaway just down the road," Eddy interrupted, and they shot off (Butch dragged Eddy with them) before Mojo had finished speaking.

* * *

Brick stood in the courtyard, moving his hand from side to side. "Good girl MJ, keep following the hand," he said. MJ did, her eyes moving from left to right. Completely distracted, she was leaving both her brother and her mother alone.

"YOU STOP THAT!" shouted Him, "your ruining this!" Brick looked up.

"Ah, so you can see me too," he said bitterly, "then read my lips." He then mouthed a word which would raise the rating of this story up a level. "And I'll have my powers back too, if you don't mind"

Blossom had no idea what Him was seething about, nor did she know what MJ was looking at. But she did know they were distracted. She tried to struggle free of the webbing that bound her, but it was sticky and elastic, so she couldn't break free. Sonic hadn't had much luck either in that field, so Blossom knew she wasn't alone in finding it difficult.

Then she had a thought. If she blew of the webbing, her ice breath would freeze it hard and brittle. Then it could be broken easily. Then only problem was, she couldn't rotate her head enough to breath on the bonds. There was only one thing for it.

"Edward, come here," she hissed, trying not to draw Him's attention as well. Edward crawled over and knelt beside her.

"Mum?"

"Listen Edward, I'm really sorry about today, I promise…"

"Never mind that now," Edward was scared, she could hear it in his voice, "how do I get you out of this?"

"Good boy," Blossom said, putting as much motherly reassurance into her tone of voice as possible, "just blow on the webbing okay?"

"What? But I…"

"Edward, please just do it."

He shrugged briefly, but did so. To his surprise and Blossom's relief the webbing was immediately frozen. Edward jumped back in shock as his mum broke free and flew straight for MJ. She grabbed the surprised Spider from behind and didn't stop until they were up against a wall. MJ hissed and tried to break free, but Blossom was smiling.

"Oh no you don't you little rascal," she said, and she started to tickle MJ. Within seconds, the spider-like hisses of irritation turned to child-like giggles of laughter, and the occasional screams of "stop it mum" in between laughing fits. It wasn't long until mentally at least, MJ was as human as any one else. Then Blossom spoke to her.

"MJ please forgive me, I never mean to hurt you, I just wanted to keep you safe from these things, fights in dingy courtyards, the endless responsibility, the pressure of being a superhero. I wanted you to be free to develop your own dreams for what you wanted to do with your life, not to be destined from birth to spend your life fighting crime. I didn't know you were suffering, you should have told us, you can tell me and your father anything, I promise."

MJ looked at her mum. "I'm sorry," she said. Blossom sighed; maybe she hadn't made it clear that she was apologies. When your children are young they never understand you are apologizing, she reflected, and by the time they're old enough, you never apologies to them!

She was about to try to get the concept across to MJ again, when she was interrupted.

"WELL," said Him furiously, "you may have two superheroes in the making Blossom, but let me cut that down for you!"

Blossom looked up. He'd grabbed Edward round the throat and was holding a knife menacingly.

Too on side, Brick watched, now completely useless. He knew this was coming, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Leave him alone!" Blossom shouted desperately, but before she could do anything, Him had planted the knife in Edwards's stomach. The kid screamed in pain, and the hourglass vibrated horribly in Brick's cloak, so much so that he had to take it out and grasp it with both hands to avoid dropping it. There wasn't much sand left. Him looked across at him.

"Ah," he said smugly, "I wondered why you where here. Good to know I succeeded in something!"

Brick ignored him, and desperately studied the glass. It seemed to big for someone to die at ten. Death had said it was an intelligence test, and Brick now really hoped he made the passing grade.

Something distracted him, he looked over to Blossom. She was desperately talking to MJ.

"No MJ, no! Please don't, try to control yourself!"

"I… I can't! The smell… its hypnotizing…AHGGAH"

Brick stared at the pool of blood growing around the wailing Edward, and back at MJ. "Oh shit!" he said. This can't happen!

Blossom desperately struggled to keep herself between Edward and MJ, who was now snapping crazily like she was having a spasm, desperate to get to that maddening smell of blood and to feed. Predictably, Him lapped this up.

"Oh my dear Blossom. You can't hold MJ off and save your son. Why don't you just give up and let your daughter have dinner, as a last kind act before you die! Why, it's what Brick wants!"

"WHAT!" Brick and Blossom managed to say in unison, despite the fact that only one could here the other.

"Yes! He screams it each day down in hell as I torture him! That was how I extracted his powers. Now let me see… what does he say… Ah yes, something like, "BLOSSOM! YOU SHOULD DIE FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!" well, maybe doesn't say it that nicely, and it takes him a while with all the screaming in agony he has to do between each word…"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Brick shouted, but there was little point. Blossom couldn't here him, and distracted MJ hit her. The red puff tumbled down and as MJ leapt for Edward, Brick turned a way. He couldn't watch.

Blossom rolled over and swung back. She couldn't let Him get to her, and she couldn't worry about Brick. She had to act now, and the only way to stop MJ was to blast her. So with a lump in her throat, she fired at her daughter.

Moments latter there was a blue flash in the courtyard and the next thing Blossom knew was that her blast had missed MJ, because Bubbles had dived in the way of it.

As she did this, Boomer dived at MJ with a bag of chips.

"Come on MJ," he said, "eat this!" The smell went racing up her nose and overrode the smell of blood from her brother. Moments latter, MJ was stuffing chips in her mouth, as her sanity returned, just as Mojo had said.

"What the…?" Him shouted, but that was as far as he got before two green puffs/ruffs sandwiched him.

"Time for you to pay for this!" Buttercup said, and she and Butch laid into Him. He took the blows for a few moments before disappearing, in his usual way.

Him returned to his domain absolutely furious. "How could I have failed! How did they know MJ's weakness, or even to come?" he paused for thought. "THAT STUPID MONKEY MUST HAVE TOLD THEM!"

"Hey, you're talking about my dad," said a voice. Him swung round. Brick was standing there.

"HOW DID YOU GET HERE?"

"I followed you," Brick said calmly, and then with the swiftest of movement, he swung his scythe up to Him's throat, "and I'm going to take my powers back. But don't worry, the process will be quiet painful!"

Back in the courtyard, Blossom staged over to Bubbles.

"I've never been so glad to blast you Bubbles!" she said. Bubbles picked herself up gingerly.

"That hurt Blossom!" she said, "you should be use less powerful blasts in future."

Blossom suddenly clicked. "Shit, Edward." She turned round. Eddy had already applied a make shift bandage to the wound, but Edward was still in agony. MJ was now extremely distressed by it too.

"Oh my god, Oh my god, did I do that? Please don't let him die Dad!" she wailed. Eddy looked very concerned.

"It's not good; he needs to be at a hospital very quickly!"

"Bubbles," Buttercup commanded, "instantranslocation time!"

"I can't," she wailed, "I used up too much energy transporting us five here!"

"Well now what…" Butch began, but he was cut off by a blue flash and a whooshing sound. Edward was gone, but both the blue puffs were still there…

* * *

Okay, thanks for reading, please review. Thanks. 


	14. Pulling Through

Sorry I didn't reply to the reviews last chapter, thank you to those who sent them.

**

* * *

14. Pulling Through**

They swept in to A&E, a mere twenty minutes latter, (Blossom had carried the snivelling and confused MJ, Butch once again dragging Eddy.) They thundered up to the desk.

"Excuse me," Blossom asked, trying to hide the desperation in her voice, "have you seen a young boy with ginger hair and a stab wound brought in by a blue hedgehog?"

"We're his parents," added Eddy.

"And it's an emergency!" squeaked Bubbles.

"Ah yes," said the receptionist, "I'm afraid he went straight into surgery. You should take a seat."

The shell shocked group did. Blossom held MJ tightly on her lap, as she sniffled quietly. The rest of them twitched nervously. Eddy squeezed Blossom's free hand, but from the look on his face, he needed the support as much as she did.

Presently Sonic appeared in the corridor, some of the webbing that had earlier been restraining him was still hanging off. They all looked at him for some response, but the look on his face told it all. He withdrew eye contact very quickly.

"I'll… speak to you lot latter," he said solemnly, and then walked out. Blossom sighed, MJ quaked.

"You lot can go too," Blossom whispered. "We've taken enough of your honeymoon," she said to Bubbles and Boomer.

"Hey," said Boomer before Bubbles could, "we'll be here for you for as long as it takes. Okay?"

Blossom could only manage a nod, but Bubbles looked at Boomer presently surprised.

"I knew I'd married you for good reasons," she whispered to him. They shared a brief hug, while Butch gave his brother a knowing wink.

Shortly afterwards the sullenness returned. There was nothing to do but wait.

* * *

As Katharine thundered across the sky, Brick swept the last of the blood off his scythe. He felt that Him had got the point. But he still had plenty of problems.

He glanced at the bottle of black liquid. He assumed drinking it would return his powers, but something held him back. Nothing huge, just a feeling. So he stashed it away, and turned to his other problem. The hourglass. He had to see something soon, or he was going to have to do his job. And this one would be worse than his brother's unborn daughter.

* * *

"Girls!" They all jumped and turned round.

"Hi Professor," Buttercup spoke for the rest. He walked quickly round to them (he wasn't really capable of running any more.)

"I came as soon as I could," he said, "they should keep a room reserved for us here! How bad is it?"

"It's okayish," Blossom said, but she was gesturing with her eyes to MJ. The Professor guessed that she didn't wanther to know that it was critical.

"Anyway, I've got this for MJ," he said, bringing out a syringe, "it should tone down her spider tendencies until we work out a cure."

"We better do that now," Blossom was pleased to have something else to think about. "Give us you're arm MJ. This won't have any side affects will it?"

"It won'," the Professor said. He put it in. Everyone watched, all of them were equally grateful for a distraction. MJ winced in pain, and then relaxed. Everything seemed normal.

Suddenly, she went wide eyed. Then she started screaming at something no else could see:

"NO! NOT YOU! YOU ONLYAPPEAR WHEN PEOPLE DIE!"

* * *

Edward sat up. The room he was in was mainly dark with some bright lights in the centre, and full of surgeons. They were operating on… him? Edward looked down at his body on the table in front of him.

"Ooo, this doesn't look good," he murmured. "Another one of these dreams again." He looked around a bit more. The heart monitor machine in the corner showed thathis beats per minute were slowly dropping, but their was no panic in the surgeons' voices. They looked tense, but they kept trying to do their normal job, in an atmosphere of calm.

"Nothing like on the tele," he commented, before glancing round some more. Suddenly, he noticed someone standing right next to his, who wasn't a member of medical staff. He wore a dark cloak, and had a huge scythe, but was other wise a normal person. He was also looking at Edward.

"Hi kid," he said kindly, "you want to be a racing driver, do you?"

"Yeah," said Edward, he looked at his body. "Not much chance of that now."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a mutant, so they won't let me, and I'm dead. That's why you're here, isn't it." He surprised himself with his calmness.

"Well don't worry about it," the cloaked strange said, "you wouldn't have made it anyway if you gave up that easily."

"What?"

"It's like all things in life. If you want to reach the top, you have to work dammed hard and not let things like serious injuries and not being allowed to get in your way. That doesn't mean you should walk over people to get there, but don't let anything walk over you. Even death."

"Pah," Edward muttered, "what would you know about motor racing… or life for that matter?"

The cloaked figure sighed, and opened the cloak a bit. Edward glanced at the overalls underneath, and then clicked.

"Your Roland Ratze…" he began in awe.

"Please just call me Roland," Roland smiled. "And I think you can be a racing driver. You've got determination."

"Is that important?" Edward asked.Roland nodded.

"Determination can substitute for talent, up to a point. Now lets get you back in your body, okay?" He picked Edward up and placed him on the table. Edward began to side into his body like you slide into a sleeping bag, but he stopped halfway through.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"I'm just taking interest in a friend's family," Roland said. "And the rest is up to him now," he muttered as Edward's spirit returned to where it belonged.

* * *

It wasn't far now, Brick thought. He only had to get to the end of the corridor, into the operating theatre, and do the job. But it had been hard enough walking past Blossom and co to do it. Now it was harder, because MJ was shouting at him.

"PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY BROTHER" she begged. Brick turned round and stared in her pink tearful eyes. They reminded him of her mother's.

"Listen MJ, I have no choice!" he said, "its nobodies fault, these things happen." He hadn't even managed to convince himself, and MJ, who'd broken free of her mother's grip, was scrabbling along the floor after him.

"Nooo," she whimpered, "Please don't take him!" tears were streaming down her face. Eddy had ran forward and he picked up MJ, while The Professor tried to work out how his shot could have got this reaction.

"It's okay MJ, you're just seeing things," her father said soothingly, but MJ tried to struggle free again.

"PLEASE," she sobbed, still staring at Brick, as Eddy tried to drag her back. Brick sighed, and withdrew the hourglass. He showed it to MJ.

"Look MJ, it's not my choice. When all the sand in the glass reaches the bottom, the persons whose name is on it dies. And I'm afraid; the name on it is Edward Pa…"

He stopped dead. The name on it was indeed Edward Panner. But it was written upside down. Brick paused. He flipped the hourglass, and Edwards's life had years to run…

* * *

"Thank you, THANK YOU!" called MJ, as Eddy finally returned with her to her seat. She was still following something invisible that was leaving round the corner. He sat down on her fathers lap, bubbling like the happy MJ of old. They all stared at her.

"What's got into you?" asked Buttercup. MJ turned to the aunt that not so long ago she'd been trying to eat.

"It's okay now. Edward's going to be fine," she had complete confidence.

"Err, I'm not so sure," Blossom said quietly to MJ, but it didn't shake her.

"He's fine. Brick fixed it."

The silence was absolutely deafening. It was eventually broken by the sound of doctors leaving the theatre at the end of the corridor, all looking overjoyed. Blossom stood up.

"Back in a minute," she said distractedly, and she hurried off in the direction MJ had been looking as she'd thanked Brick.

"Blossom wait…" Eddy began, but Butch stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Let her go," he said quietly, "she needs this."

* * *

Okay, thanks for reading. Please Review, ask questions etc, and this time I'll try to reply. The next chapter is the last chapter, but I have another story to start almost immediately. Thanks. 


	15. Place in the World

Okay, it's that time again, the final chapter!

**

* * *

15. Place in the World**

Blossom passed through the doors out of the hospital, and stop. She looked around, tying to see if she could see him. She couldn't.

"If MJ could there has to be a way I can," she muttered, but a small part of her interrupted. This is stupid, it said. Best you go back inside now and pretend it never happened; you've already made a fool of yourself. She slumped for a minute, then had a thought. Maybe it was her doubt which stopped her from seeing Brick. She closed her hers, and tried to silence the logical side of her that was screaming about how stupid this was.

When she opened them again, he was there. Fiddling with the saddle bag on a horse that was tied to some railings. She took a step closer nervously.

"Brick?" she asked. Now she was worried. What if she did hate her? It was too late now. Brick had heard her, and frozen stock still. He turned round.

"Blossom?" he said quietly. They just stared at each other for a moment. Katharine snorted and trotted off, defying the fact that she was tied up.

"It's been a while…" she said nervously. "Every night I dream of this moment, and now I can't think of anything to say."

Brick smiled. He walked up to her. "I wouldn't say anything. I'd kiss you if I could," he whispered. Blossom was trying not to well up.

"B…but I thought you'd hate me?" she said.

"Times a healer," he shrugged, "we've both suffered enough without hating each other. I never wanted you to suffer, and I know you never did."

"But I did let you suffer." She looked at her feet. "I can't forgive myself."

Brick lent under her head and looked up at her. "I can forgive you," he said, "because true love doesn't judge."

Blossom felt 17 again. She stood straight again, and smiled at him.

"You don't know how much that means to me," she whispered. She moved a hand out towards him, but it went straight through. She paused for a moment. Then Brick laughed.

"It seems they laws of Death keep some barriers intact," he said loudly. The moment had been lost. Blossom laughed to.

"I've missed you," she said.

"I've missed you too," he said, "it's been maddening. All I've got to do is to think of you."

"Really?" Blossom asked.

"Well I collect souls too," he admitted, "but dealing with people who've just died isn't greatly more cheerful."

"Don't you have any happy moments?" Blossom was feeling guilty again.

"It's not that bad," Brick read the tone in her voice, "I have some good times with my friend Roland, and there is always the moments I get to see you," he smiled.

"Don't you have a girl friend or something?" Blossom semi wanted him to say no. He did.

"It's hard to find someone who will accept that you will always love someone else more." He looked pointedly at Blossom. "You are very lucky to have him."

"Anyone would be lucky to have you," she replied, "and I don't intend on dying soon." She tried to touch him again, just showing how short memories are. "We'll be together one day, but not today. You'll go mad alone. I did."

Brick nodded. "But I'll be waiting," he said.

"You never know, you might find someone better."

"No chance." He smiled again, but there was now pain in his eyes. "I've got to go," he said, pulling out an hourglass, some selfish person is about to reach the end of the line!"

Blossom chuckled. "I love you," she said, "thank you for forgiving me."

Brick climbed up on to his returning horse. He turned back to her. "I love you. And I'll always be with you… in one way or another." Without prompting, Katharine shot off into the sky. Blossom watched.

"THANKS FOR SAVING EDWARD!" she shouted after him.

"NO PROBLEM," he shouted back, his voice fading as he was carried away, "ALL I Want is for you to be happy…" and his voice faded away.

Blossom stood there and thought. When ever she'd considered meeting Brick again before, she'd always had lots of questions to ask him. It hadn't been like that, but she knew what he needed to know. He still loved her, and he had forgiven her. Genuinely forgiven her. She thought that she should feel sad they couldn't be together now, but in a strange way, she finally felt free, released from her guilt and her fears. They would be together one day, now she knew that. And clutching that thought close to her heart, she turned and went back into the hospital. There was something else she had to do.

Such was the deepness of her thoughts, she never noticed the people staring at her.

* * *

Brick sighed as he rode though the sky. It was done. It hurt in some ways. He'd always know that they'd be together one day, so it not being today hurt. He tried to distract himself by looking at the bottle with his powers in, but it didn't help. All he could think of was Blossom, so he put it away again.

"You alright?" someone asked. Brick looked up. His room mate had ridden up along side.

"Sort of," Brick sighed. He explained to Roland what had just happened.

"So you're just going to count the days until Blossom dies?" he asked.

"Yep."

"Well you know what they say," Roland said cheerfully, "time flies when your having fun!" he put a hand on Bricks shoulder. "Take a leaf out of her book. Don't spend all your time moping, keep busy. Raise Brandy, take up a sport, do some causal dating. And that way, Blossom will be here before you know it!"

Brick gave Roland a short death stare, before something occurred to him.

"You're here?" he said.

"Yes, I was taking an interest in your family," Roland said proudly.

"Really? You can tell me about that after you answered me this question: If you're here and I'm here, who's looking after Brandy?"

"Oh don't worry; I've got the universe's best babysitter… "

_

* * *

Cooycooycoo, Death said, leaning over the cot. Inside it, the little green puff giggled._

* * *

Eddy was sitting miserably round the corner. He supposed he knew this day would come, but he hadn't been expecting to be alive to see it. He wallowed in his own depression for a while, it was quite good fun.

The sound of foot steps made him looked up.

"Blossom?" he said. He stood up, sweating nervously. "Did you find him?"

She stopped just in front of him. "Yes I did," she said gently. Eddy swallowed a lump.

"Do you still love him?"

Blossom nodded. "Yes. Yes I do. But I also realised something else."

"What?" Eddy could hardly bear to watch. But to his surprise, Blossom but her arms round him.

"I love you too, and I am lucky to have you," she echoed Brick's words.

"Really?" Eddy turned to her. Blossom nodded, smiling happily.

"You're a good father, a great husband and my second choice. You saved my life. You've managed to fill the unfillable hole."

Eddy kissed her gently. "Till death do us part," he whispered. His wife nodded.

* * *

Evening came. Bubbles and Boomer had returned to Paris, and Buttercup and Butch had gone home – both of them looked exhausted. But the long run wasn't quite over yet for the Panner's, because Edward had just woken up.

"How are you feeling darling," Blossom asked. She was sat on his bed, with her hand on his. Edward managed a smile.

"Cra…" he spotted MJ, who was on her father's lap, "awful," he corrected. Blossom nodded.

"I expect it will be sore for a while," she said.

"Yeah," said Eddy enthusiastically, "you should see the scar!"

"Really?" Edward looked. "Wow." He said, as Blossom rolled her eyes, and MJ giggled.

"Anyway, I've been doing some research son," Eddy said happily, "and although you can't compete in many forms of sport, I have found an exception."

"You have!" Edward said, as energetically as some one as ill as he was could.

"You know rallying, where they race cars off road against the clock. That has some mutants racing at the top of the American Championship!"

"Which isn't that impressive," Edward noted, "it's more of a British motorsport. But can I Mum?" he said, looking at her. Blossom smiled.

"Of course you can!" she said happily, "although you did a pretty good Superhero job earlier today, you saved my life."

"Yeah, but I got captured by the villain, which was pretty crap," Edward said. Eddy shot him a look.

"I'm going to put a swear box on you in a minute," he said.

"I'm sorry for trying to kill you Mum," MJ said sadly. Blossom shrugged.

"It's okay MJ," she said motherly, "we both made mistakes, so let's forget it. The Professor will soon have you cured, and then we can get on."

MJ blushed for a minute. "Mum, you know I said I can tell you anything, well, I don't want to be cured. I finally feel right." She looked up nervously at her amazed family, and smiled, showing the two sharp teeth.

"Well," Blossom hesitated, she hadn't thought of this, "if it's safe…"

"Last time I was in a hospital I nearly went mad," MJ pleaded, "now I'm fine."

"Well, okay," said Blossom slightly reluctantly, "but we'll always have a cure for you if you want it."

"Hey, what does that make you?" Edward asked MJ. "A Powerpuff or a Spider-girl?"

"Oh that's obvious," said Eddy, "she's a SpiderPuff Girl. And you're a RallyRuff Boy!"

Eddy and Blossom both laughed in that annoying way parents do, while MJ bust into hysterics. Edward just blew steam out of his ears. Being a mutant was going to take some getting used to.

* * *

Mojo was very pleased with his day's work He looked at his check list.

"Him eliminated: check. (For now.)

MJ returned: check.

Puffs lured into false sense of security by my helpfulness: check.

Equipment for cloning machine: check.

DNA sample…" He looked at a piece of the fully strength Spider-MJ's orange hair.

"Check Mate!"

* * *

Right, that's it. I will be starting a new story very soon, but it will need you to have read at least chapters 1, 3 and 9 of "Can you keep a Secret" for you to understand it. Okay please review, and thanks to all of you who have. See you soon! 


End file.
